Dan O'Dowd accepts need to give up some Colorado Rockies duties

As it became clear this season was getting away from the Colorado Rockies, team owner Dick Monfort and general manager Dan O'Dowd began having several discussions on how to correct the wrongs and come up with a better way to build more rights.

The internal talks became just that — Monfort and O'Dowd looked internally at their own system. They didn't blame the players or the coaches. They looked at how their system was failing their players and coaches.

The result was a re-shifting of responsibilities. Bill Geivett, who has long been O'Dowd's right-hand man, will be in charge of the big-league club in all aspects. With the new title of senior vice president of major league operations, Geivett will oversee manager Jim Tracy, his coaching staff, the strength-and-conditioning program, video and scouting. Geivett will be a presence in the clubhouse and coordinate spring training and the offseason program.

Troy E. Renck and Patrick Saunders add analysis and notes to this blog focussing on the Colorado Rockies.

O'Dowd is still the boss. He keeps his title as executive vice president/chief baseball officer/general manager. O'Dowd will still make trades and be responsible for personnel moves. It's just that O'Dowd will allocate more time toward revamping the Rockies' player development program in the minor leagues.

"I'm sure it will be perceived I'm usurping some of my authority," O'Dowd said Wednesday. "The reality is, it needs to be. Because the way the structure is set up right now, there's no filter in the process."

Additionally, O'Dowd has plans to add a director of pitching operations, "someone who wakes up and thinks about pitching 24/7."

The Rockies entered their game Wednesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals with a 37-64 record that is second-worst in the majors. The primary culprit has been a pitching staff that has put up a pre-humidor-like 5.36 ERA that is worst in the majors.

O'Dowd said the shifting of responsibilities was his idea.

"There's no doubt I'm giving up some major responsibilities here, but I think we're better served," O'Dowd said.

He said Geivett has the type of baseball acumen and personality that better suits working on a day-to-day basis with the big-league operations. While O'Dowd will execute trades, acquisitions and releases, he will do so with greater input from Geivett. Won't this new system result in a front-office clash of authority?

"No, the beauty of this is Geiv-o and I have a working relationship for going on 10 years," O'Dowd said. "In that 10-year period we have agreed and disagreed. We have hugged each other and we have fought. He's a man of character who stands up for what he believes in. Honestly in the role of how to play the game, how pieces fit in the right spot, he's better at that than I am.'"

Allowing O'Dowd to tinker, if not overhaul the franchise's minor-league system makes sense given his background. O'Dowd has been a general manager so long, it's easy to forget he was once considered one of the game's most distinguished farm directors. O'Dowd oversaw the Cleveland Indians' minor league system from the late 1980s to mid 1990s that produced such top tier major league talent as Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle, Jim Thome, and through minor-league trades, Kenny Lofton, Carlos Baerga and Sandy Alomar.

As for the Rockies, it's been well established they will not have success unless they start filtering better talent through their minor-league system. During their 2007 run to the World Series, the Rockies reaped the rewards of a farm system that produced such stars as Matt Holliday, Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton, Garrett Atkins, Brad Hawpe, Jeff Francis, Franklin Morales and Aaron Cook.

"I've seen a ton of things in player development from my background that I also want to begin to address," O'Dowd said. "The way it's set up now is not working. People can write about this any way they want about it, but honestly if we were 20 games above .500 I probably would have waited till the end of year to do this, but I would have done the exact same thing because the structure we have now is not working."

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